


Third Time's the Charm

by Elske



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: M/M, Time Loop, and one of them has magic, but i mean, it could be, matchmaking grandmothers, not really a golden girls au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 09:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13121253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elske/pseuds/Elske
Summary: Two roommates realize their grandsons would make a PERFECT couple. (Now if they could only get their first date right.)For thesorceressfromthelake :)





	Third Time's the Charm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thesorceressfromthelake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesorceressfromthelake/gifts).



((Prologue))

 

The whole saga starts, as most do, innoculously enough: four roommates all in one kitchen on a Wednesday night. 

Catalina pours herself a cup of tea, moves towards the table - and her roommate Lily holds up one hand. “If you bump this table, nobody will ever find all the pieces of your body,” she threatens, in as sweet a voice as has ever voiced such a threat. “Someone already made me get blotches on two of my spare envelopes.” She has half the table covered with her calligraphy supplies and is hand-addressing a series of wedding invitations. Not only is it her favorite non-violent hobby, it’s also a pretty decent source of income.

“I’m confident I could find at least three quarters of the pieces,” says another of the roommates, not looking up from her game of solitaire. “Maybe four fifths, if I really concentrated.”

“Oh, that’s comforting. Thank you, Kali.” Catalina shakes her head and sighs as she sits down. “Another wedding?”

“A wedding! That’s what my family needs.” The fourth of the roommates stoops to slide a pan of bread into the oven to proof. “Everyone is so depressed all the time. And every time someone’s important enough to be mentioned to the grandparents, we start to hope, you know? And every time we hope, we get disappointed.” She wipes floury hands off on a dish towel. “Honestly though, if women keep treating my Sonny this badly? He should bring a man home next time.”

“Do you honestly think men are any better?” Lily snorts, contemptuously. “It’s not like any of us never had our heart broken by a man.”

“Sometimes men are better,” says Catalina. “My grandson? He’s a good man. He’s the best man I know.”

“We know, we know, and he went to Harvard, and he pays your rent...”

“Not every grandson would pay his grandmother’s rent,” Catalina interrupts, pride in her voice. “Not every grandson would do that. I’m blessed. Even if I won’t have any weddings to go to either, any time soon.”

“Wait a minute,” says Gigi, crossing the room. “Catalina! Your grandson, he’s single.”

Catalina nods. 

“Wait a minute. Your grandson is single. My grandson is single. Do you know what I’m thinking?” Her eyes light up; Catalina grins.

“I know exactly what you’re thinking, and you’re absolutely right!”

“We should call them.”

“I’ll get them a reservation on Friday. Someplace nice. Angelino’s?”

“Isn’t that too nice for a first date?”

They exit the room, voices overlapping with the excitement of their matchmaking.

Lily shakes her head, never looking up from her work. “This isn’t going to end well. There is no possible way that this could ever end well.”

“You’re a cynic,” Kali reminds her. She deals out another layout of cards on the table top, considers it for a moment, and then flinches. “You're a cynic, but you’re also not wrong.” She gathers up the cards.

 

((Friday))

 

Two awkward men sit on either side of a table in a very romantic Italian restaurant. The light is dim, a wax-spattered candle flickers on the table between them, and a tinny orchestral version of a Frank Sinatra tune is playing in the background.

“So,” Sonny finally says. “Um. I can’t believe my Nonna did this. I’m really, really sorry.”

Rafael looks up at Sonny, then returns his embarrassed gaze to the dusty silk flower in the middle of the table. “It’s not your fault. It really isn’t. If anyone is to blame, it’s my grandmother and myself.”

Sonny clucks his tongue. “Of all the people I expected to see when I got here...”

“I’m sorry,” says Rafael. “It must have been a disappointment.”

“No! Oh no no nothing like that,” and Sonny’s blushing. “It’s just, a surprise? I mean, what a coincidence, though? That our grandmothers know each other?”

“They don’t just know each other, they live together. How could we not know that?”

“We are horrible grandsons and horrible people.”

There’s another long embarrassed silence, and then Sonny asks “Do you think they’d mind if we changed our orders, you know, to go?”

“I don’t think so.”

Hours later, somewhere on Staten Island, two women are arguing loudly: in English, in Spanish, in Italian. One of them threatens to move out. The other threatens to toss her out. And they both loudly declare that their grandson deserves better.

“This is horrible,” and Lily actually sounds a bit horrified. “I knew this was a bad idea, but I didn’t know it was going to be this bad. And there’s nothing we can do about it now, it’s over and done.”

Kali looks at her for a long moment, and then back down at her cards. She deals them out, considers them, sweeps them back up. “Over and done,” she says, and then she grins. “Or is it? Is it really? Could they use a second chance?”

 

((Friday, a second chance))

 

Kali always has solid advice, and so when she told her roommates that maybe they should accompany their grandsons on the date they were arranging for them - and maybe somewhere less formal than the Italian restaurant they’d considered? - they listened. Maybe try something more relaxed and more subtle, Kali had suggested. Maybe a coffee shop in Manhattan? After all, both grandsons work in Manhattan, wouldn’t it be interesting if they knew one another?

(Of course, both women think that suggestion is preposterous. How many people, after all, live and work in Manhattan! There are tons of police detectives in Manhattan, and a ton of lawyers too!)

“Are you all right?” Rafael asks, because his grandmother is acting strange: not concentrating on their conversation at all, looking intently at everyone who walks past their sidewalk cafe table. 

“Of course,” Catalina says, reaching out and gently patting her grandson’s hand. 

Rafael is suspicious. “Wait, I think someone’s waving at you?” He squints into the sun, as a woman he vaguely recognizes approaches their table - and with her, someone he definitely recognizes. “Detective,” he says, acknowledging a confused Sonny Carisi.

“Rafael, you know my roommate, Giovanna.”

“Please, call me Gigi, everyone does,” the older woman insists, reaching out her hand for Rafael to shake. Despite himself, Rafael grins. 

“Does that run in the family?”

Sonny laughs, is persuaded by his grandmother to sit, four people clustered - a bit uncomfortably - around a small cafe table.

The conversation is dominated by the two women, and -- while Rafael is always glad to spend time with his grandmother -- he thinks it’s sort of a shame that he isn’t getting much of a chance to see more of this side of Detective Sonny Carisi.

 

Somewhere on Staten Island, there's a lot of disappointment as the two women agree that it’s sad that there didn’t seem to be any chemistry at all between their wonderful, perfect grandsons. They commiserate and talk (and talk and talk and talk) until finally they both go to bed.

“Do you think the boys ever got a word in edgewise?” Lily asks, rolling her eyes. “They might actually have liked each other if they’d been given a chance. It’s a shame they can’t do it over.”

Kali frowns, and then draws three cards from her deck, laying them out on the table. And then she smiles. “Don’t they always say, the third time’s the charm?”

((Friday, the third time))

It’s been over an hour since his blind date was supposed to show up, and honestly, it’s only because his drink is too good to waste by gulping it down that Rafael is still there. That, and: he’s not looking forward to telling his grandmother that her roommate’s friend stood him up. He’s given up hope that his date is going to show up at all, but he still looks up to see who is coming through the door - and it’s a familiar face.

“Good evening, Detective,” he says.

“Hey, Counselor.” Sonny looks like he’s not having the best of nights either; he slumps into a seat at the bar. “Vodka martini, please?” he asks the bartender, and then, with a nod towards one of the TVs, “Who’s winning?”

“Seattle,” the bartender says, and he puts a glass on the bar, and Sonny just sighs.

“Bad night?” Rafael asks.

“The worst,” says Sonny, shaking his head. “I got stood up on a blind date, my grandmother’s going to be ashamed of me because I’m sure this is my fault somehow, and my team is losing.”

“I’m sorry,” Rafael says. 

Sonny takes a long sip from his drink. “I’m sorry, to bring you down and all.”

“I was already down,” the other man admits. “My night’s gone pretty much the same way as yours, from the sound of it. With the exception of the hockey.”

“What, you mean you were stood up too?”

“Yep.”

“Unbelievable.” Sonny shakes his head. gulps at his drink. “Who in their right mind would stand you up?”

“You flatter me.” Rafael is caught off guard, tries to hide it by taking another sip of his drink. 

“Honestly, if she had any kind of taste...she should have known better. Who was she?”

“He was a blind date. Someone my grandmother knows.” 

“Grandmothers!” Sonny’s a little flushed, maybe from drinking one martini in about three sips. “Look, I’m starving, do you want to have dinner with me?”

“Actually...I think I’d really like that.”

Somewhere on Staten Island, two roommates are scowling down at their phones.

“I can’t believe he hasn’t called,” says one.

“I can't believe he won’t answer,” says the other. 

“It’s a good sign,” says Kali, from over her cards. “Trust me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the organizers of this for putting up with me and my fic writing drama, thanks to the people on the barisi discord for being awesome and inadvertently putting the idea of "matchmaking grandmothers" in my head, thanks to lawyerboyfriends for listening to me whine about this for what was probably an excessive amount (and still liking me anyway).


End file.
